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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Earthy and Giant Planets, this is the third lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Earth and Other Celestial Bodies, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
The planets of the solar system are classified in two categories: earthy planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) and giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).
Giant Planets are farther from the Sun than earthy ones and have a lower density than earthy ones. They can be considered as gaseous gigantic balls floating in space, held together by the high gravity produced by the gas itself. Matter in a solid state exists only in their center (core). Giant planets are mainly composed by hydrogen and helium.
Earthy Planets are closer to the Sun and are relatively small compared to giant ones. These planets are enveloped by a solid core (ground) and contain heavier materials than hydrogen and helium. Most metals we know are found under their surface.
The reason why giant planets are the farthest and earthy (solid) planets are the closest to the Sun is because kinetic energy of composing particles (gas) in farthest planets is very small due to low temperatures (recall the direct relationship between temperature and kinetic energy of particles in Section 13). It is a much smaller gravitational potential energy that keeps them connected. As a result, giant planets retain gaseous components within close proximity, unlike earthy planets in which most of the gaseous components have already dissipated due to their high kinetic energy from the higher temperatures of the environment. Hence, only the solid core composed by heavy elements is left which makes these planets smaller but harder. Earthy planets are mainly composed by Silicon, Carbon, Aluminum, Calcium and Magnesium as well as other heavy components but in smaller varying amounts. Therefore, The Earth for example is hundreds times lighter than Jupiter, as most of the Earths gaseous material dissipated in space long ago.
You have reached the end of Physics lesson 22.1.3 Earthy and Giant Planets. There are 6 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Earth and Other Celestial Bodies, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
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